Everything Happens For A Reason
by PurplePantherXVI
Summary: Axel, Roxas, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Naminé, and Xion all discover that sometimes people you'd never expect can be linked to your life in ways that are unimaginable. Everyone has a story to tell, and all you have to do is listen...
_**A/N: Hey! PurplePantherXVI here. This story is actually not written by me, but by a friend of mine irl, ShadowArtist13. She posts some of her stories on this account as well, and this is one of hers ~ ! Enjoy!**_

 **Hi guys! It's ShadowArtist13 back again with another fanfiction for you! This time it isn't a one shot, and I'm very excited to put this out there for all of you. I'm in the process of writing the first chapter (as this is the prologue) so hopefully I'll have another chapter up soon.**

 **I really hope you guys like this! 3 Enjoy!**

 **SA13~**

 **Disclaimer: I wish I owned Kingdom Hearts and all the characters, but unfortunately I don't. Oh well. ^.^'**

Everyone has a story. Every person you pass on the street, who you talk to at work or school, who you see on television and who you interact with, they all have their own personal stories to tell. Although most of us are aware of this fact, sometimes things like internal flaws and stereotypes get in the way of us really getting to know different people. Everyone has struggles. Every one of us at one point or another has felt that sharp pain in our hearts because of something. A loss. A flaw. A disappointment. A guilt. Everyone has a story to tell, and to discover them all you have to do is listen.

All stories have an ending. And all stories have a beginning.

And the beginning starts it all off.

~X~

The moonlight shone through his bedroom window, casting an eerie light color on the surfaces in its path. Though it was nighttime, the boy was not sleepy. He wasn't energetic either. He felt no need to do anything but cry at that moment.

What else could he do? Tears ran down pale cheeks and spiky red hair was sprawled out in all directions on the boy's pillow.

He couldn't go back in time. He couldn't undo the events of that day, or the day before that, or even some day a year ago. No matter how hard he wished, it just wasn't possible.

Numb. That was the word to describe how he was feeling. The day's events felt almost unreal, and he felt like he was ripped away from the only thing that tied him to this world.

He still couldn't believe that he'd never see that smile again. He'd never be able to get the best advice and have stupid conversations. He wouldn't even think about touching sea salt ice cream again, even though that was his favorite flavor.

Everything was being taken away from him. Everything he loved was getting destroyed. And it was all because of a chain effect.

All because…his best friend died.

"Isa…" was all he could mumble before another fit of heart-wrenching sobs took control of his body and he curled up into a ball, wishing that the morning would never come.

For Lea could never imagine a life without Isa. Life, being the jerk it was, decided to show him it was completely possible and shoved it in his face. And now he didn't know what to do.

That night became the longest night Lea had ever lived through.

~X~

*FLASHBACK*

Lea was 6 years old when his mother brought him to meet their new neighbors. Though when his mother said "neighbors," she meant the entire town. They had just moved to Twilight Town, and since his mother was fascinated with the place, she dragged Lea with her to say hello to everyone and start off introductions and conversations and a lot more. So far they had met an old lady who had many cats (she kind of scared Lea…), a man who smelled like baby powder and bleach (he scared Lea even more), a few families with a some children who seemed pretty nice, and some shop and business owners.

They had been walking around for a few hours and Lea's tiny feet were getting tired. The redhead looked up at his mother. "Mooooom, when can we go back home? We've been walking for ages!"

The woman smiled knowingly at her son before grabbing his hand and continuing to walk along the sidewalk. "Come on, there's a house up there we haven't seen before. Let's just go to that last one and then we'll go home, deal?"

Lea sighed, letting his head droop and closing his eyes. He then opened them and looked at his mom again, giving her a soft smile. "Okay."

They walked to the house and rang the doorbell.

"One moment!" said a voice from inside the house. Lea heard frantic footsteps and then saw the door swing open. A woman with shoulder length light blue hair and purple eyes stepped out onto the doorstep. "Hello."

"Hi! I'm Amber and this is my son Lea. We just moved to this town, so we wanted to meet all of the people here and get to know where everything is." Lea's mother stepped forward, holding out a hand. "It's so nice to meet you."

The woman took her hand, shaking it gently and smiling. "Nice to meet you too! I hope you like it here! My name is Yue. My husband is out right now, but my son is upstairs…" She turned into the house and yelled, "Isa? We have guests! Can you please come here for a moment?"

Shuffling noises were heard, and a minute later a boy walked out next to his mother. He had the same color hair as his mother, about the same length as well (although it was styled differently), but his eyes were a startling gold-ish color that still somehow looked innocent on his face. He stared at Amber for a moment before glancing at Lea. After that he immediately looked down at the ground. Lea could already tell that the boy was shy.

"Isa, I'd like you to meet Lea and his mother. They've just moved into town so we're probably going to see them around a lot." Yue gestured to Lea. "How old is he?"

Amber smiled and said, "He's six right now, but his birthday is August 8th, so soon he'll be seven."

Yue's smile got even bigger. "Isa is six as well, and his birthday's in December; December 7th."

The moms started to talk excitedly about a variety of topics like school and play-dates. Lea and Isa just stared at each other.

Lea wondered if he should say something. Isa seemed to sense his distress, so he tugged on his mother's shirt. "Mom, can I show Lea my room?"

Yue nodded and gestured for Amber and Lea to come inside. Lea looked around. The walls of their house were blended into different shades of green, blue, purple, and silver. The furniture was all silver and arranged neatly everywhere they could see from their positions at the front door. The air smelt of mint and pine trees.

Isa led Lea up a staircase and then turned down a hallway and turned again to the first door on the right. He opened his door and walked into his room. It was a cerulean blue and had a mural of a wolf under a full moon on the opposite wall from where his bed was. His bedsheets were a shiny black and toys were scattered on the floor over a pale blue rug.

"Wow," Lea said, eyes wide. "Your room is cool!"

"Y-you really think so?" Isa said eyes wide.

"Yeah! I think it fits you really well!" Lea gave his new friend a toothy grin.

Isa gave a shy smile. "Thanks…so…what sort of things do you like to play?"

Lea pondered a moment and then said, "I don't know. I guess I'd play anything. What about you?"

Isa thought for a minute, his face looking even more serious than usual, and then he laughed. "I guess I don't really know. I haven't had many friends so I don't know a lot of games to play."

Lea looked sad for a moment, but then his face brightened. "Well, now you have me! We can play together all the time!"

Isa looked surprised. "We're…friends?"

Lea nodded enthusiastically. "Of course we are."

Isa nodded as well and then asked, "Okay, so do you have any games you want to play?"

Lea smirked. "I've got a whole bunch!"

Isa smiled as well, looking the happiest he'd been while Lea was there. "Great, then let's get started!"

They played for a while, and ended up staying over Yue and Isa's house for dinner that night. This was the beginning of a powerful friendship.

Over the years, the boys continued to bond. They went to the same school, and hung out as often as they could. Their moms grew close as well, becoming the best of friends, just like their boys. Sometimes it kind of seemed like they were family, since they didn't actually have much family of their own. They were all very happy. Even when times were hard, they all got through it together and came out even better than before.

~X~

Lea woke up to his friend's voice.

"Lea, why are you being such a lazy bum? It's your birthday!"

The redhead's eyes shot open. Standing over him, smiling, was Isa. He was holding sea-salt ice cream cake, which was their favorite flavor.

Lea rubbed his eyes and yawned before glancing at his friend sleepily. "Isa…what…are you doing in my room? Does my mom know you're here?"

Isa nodded. "Yup, she's right over there." He gestured toward the doorway where Lea saw Amber and Yue standing and smiling at him.

"Good morning, my eight year old!"

Lea grinned. "I'm eight!"

He jumped out of bed, hugged his friend, his mother, and Yue, and then they all went to the kitchen where Yue had made them pancakes for breakfast.

"We'll eat the cake a bit later." Amber said. Lea frowned but then saw the stack of pancakes on his plate and shrugged, chowing down.

Isa rolled his eyes at his friend, but a smile was still present on his face as he slowly went to sit next to his friend, starting to cut into his own stack.

After breakfast, the two boys ran up to Lea's room.

"What should we play?" Lea asked Isa.

"I guess you should pick since it's your birthday."

"Alright. Then let's play…SUPERHEROES!" Lea and Isa had just started to get obsessed with different superheroes like Batman, Superman, Spiderman and more. "But instead of being a different superhero each, why don't we come up with our own names and powers?"

Isa's face lit up. "Yeah, good idea!"

"I'll be a super strong guy who can fly and can shoot fire from…" He looked around his room and found two Frisbees. "…From these!"

Isa looked confused. "…Frisbees?"

Lea made a face. "No, silly. These will be called…chakrams!"

Isa shrugged. "Okay then. What's your name?"

"My name…" Lea pouted for a moment, then threw his fist up in the air. "Got it! My name will be…Axel!"

Isa frowned again. "Well that's not very creative. All you did was scramble up the letters in your name and add x."

"Well, go with it just for today. It IS my birthday after all…"

Isa sighed and then said, "Okay. I guess I'll be a strong guy with powers over the moon and a weapon called…" He grabbed a random pole. "…a Berserker. And I can go into Berserk mode through this where I'm almost unstoppable."

Lea nodded. "Cool! What's your name?"

Isa thought for a moment. "Saix."

Lea smiled. "Hey, you used the trick too!"

Isa laughed. "I said it was your birthday so I humored you."

And off they went to defeat bad guys…and show their moms their "powers" and skills.

That day would remain in Lea's memory forever.

~X~

"Isa, I'm so bored."

"…"

"Isaaaaaa~"

"…"

"Isaaaaaaaaa! Why are you being such a meanie!"

"…I'm thinking. Stop distracting me."

"Oh….whatcha thinkin' about?"

Isa turned to Lea with a serious look on his face.

"I'm thinking about pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows that are covered in everything in this world that is sugary that are on top of floating hamburgers with hot sauce in the middle that are in orbit which are trying to be reached by an armada of space giants 55,876,322.99 light years away," he deadpanned.

"…I don't even know how to reply to that," Lea said.

"Good." Isa smirked and went back to the way he was sitting before.

"Gahhhh…Isaaaaa come onnnn."

"I'm not your entertainment, Lea."

"But you're my besty best friend."

"True…"

"Sooo," Lea said shoving his face close to his friend's, "…what should we do?"

"Let's see…what do normal 10 year olds do?" Isa said as he pushed Lea's face back a few inches. "Obviously we aren't gonna play with toy cars and dinosaurs anymore."

Lea rocked back and forth on the bench he was sitting on and started suggesting some ideas. "We could kick a ball back and forth, or have races or something…"

"Yeah okay, whatever. That sounds g-"

Isa suddenly doubled over in pain, holding his head.

Lea looked concerned and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Isa? Are you alright?"

Isa's countenance gave off a look of sheer confusion as he shot upright again. "Lea? Lea!" He started to move his hand around him, trying to find where he was. "What's happening? I-I can't see!"

Lea's eyebrows furrowed and he grabbed his friend's hand, holding onto it with a steel grip. Something was wrong, and Isa couldn't be fooling around with him. Whenever he had pranked him before, it had never been as serious as this. And his face looked way too panicked to be fake.

Isa started spazzing out. He fell on the ground, jerking every couple of seconds; his eyes darted around like he couldn't tell where he was. Then just as quickly as it started, it suddenly just stopped and Isa passed out.

Lea at this point was in tears. He quickly picked up his friend's limp body and started running as fast as he could back to Yue.

His legs started to burn but instead of stopping he just went faster. Adrenaline coursed through his veins.

He had to get to the house. He would not let his friend die like this. He had to get help.

These thoughts kept him going until he got back to Yue. Not even stopping to knock, he ran through the front door and over to the couches in the living room where Amber and Yue were sitting drinking coffee. As soon as Yue saw her son, her jaw and her coffee mug dropped as she ran over to see what was wrong.

Amber looked shocked and ran over to the both of them as well, first checking on Isa and then turning to Lea.

"What happened?"

Lea tried to get out words through his sobs and his gasps for breath. "He just…started spazzing out…he said he…couldn't see m-me or…anything. He just collapsed. I didn't know…what to do!" He hugged his mother and started crying into her shoulder.

Yue looked like she was going to have a heart attack. "We have to get to the hospital, quickly."

She ran to find her keys while Lea picked up Isa again and Amber went to open the car doors. Once Isa and Lea were situated in the back, she turned to Yue and placed a hand on her arm.

"If you want I can drive. I'm just scared that if you're too emotional over this you might make an irrational decision and that wouldn't help Isa at all. Go, be with your son."

Yue hugged Amber quickly and whispered a thank you before jumping in the back as well.

The trip to the hospital was stressful. Everyone was worried about whether or not Isa was going to be okay. The traffic seemed to all appear at once. Red lights became the devil. Seconds felt like hours, and none of them felt like they were actually breathing.

Lea didn't remember arriving, running inside, or placing Isa on a hospital bed because all he kept focusing on was checking his breathing, temperature, and making sure he didn't start spazzing again.

He watched his best friend get wheeled behind doors to where the doctors were and he honestly didn't know whether or not he'd see his friend again.

For now, all he could do was wait.

~X~

The doctor walked out and made his way over to Yue, Amber, and Lea.

"Will you please come with me?"

The three followed the doctor back into a room with a desk, a lamp, and a bunch of x-rays.

"Your son is alive, but he's not stable quite yet. We have been doing some different tests and we discovered this." He pulled a photo out of a manila folder and set it on the table. It was a picture of Isa's skull and brain.

Yue's eyes widened with fear and she grabbed the photo and examined it closer, a hand shooting up to her mouth.

"We found a tumor in your son's brain. I'm afraid because of his age and where the tumor is located, it'd be too risky to go through surgery to try to get it out. We are doing all we can to try to slow and stop the tumor from growing any more, but there's really not much to be done. I'll be back in a few minutes to take you to Isa." He quietly exited.

Not long after, Yue broke down. "I'm going to lose him. I-I can't do this! I-I…I…" Words no longer came to her, and heart wrenching sobs took their place.

Amber hugged her friend and let her cry, patting her head, tears cascading down her face almost as quickly.

Lea felt like he couldn't breathe. He couldn't cry because he was too numb. This was all happening way too fast.

~X~

It took 68 hours for the tumor to win. Lea had stayed with him the whole time, barely eating, sleeping, or really anything. He just made sure his friend was okay, comfortable, breathing, and stable.

There was only once when Isa came out of the coma, ten minutes before death.

Lea had been staring at Isa's face. After being here for so long, he had almost memorized all the shapes and angles that made him…Isa. Except, the effects of the tumor were clearly showing. His head swelled, and around his hairline there were bruises and different colors like purple, blue, black, and red. His eyes were puffy, looking like he'd been crying. His lips were thin and cracked. Isa was also usually pale, but now he almost blended in with the white sheets that he was laying on.

Lea had watched as all of sudden Isa shuddered and gasped. His eyes flew open, and he stared at the ceiling. When he realized where he was, his eyes softened.

"Isa!"

At the sound of his own name, Isa's eyes flew to the spot where Lea was sitting at his side. Tears were forming in Lea's eyes and he gripped Isa's hand like it was his own life being lost.

Weakly, Isa had given Lea a small smile. "L-Lea? You're here, I'm so gla-" His sentence had been interrupted with a wave of pain.

Lea's tears had spilled over his cheeks at that point. He had been watching his friend die in front of him.

"We need to get your mother so you can talk to her." Lea yelled at the door at a nurse to quickly get Yue.

Within a minute, Yue and Amber both sprinted into the room, and after seeing Isa's open eyes, Yue burst into fresh tears. She ran forward and gave her son a hug, trying not to move his head too much or cause him more pain.

Isa's voice came out tiny and soft, but determined. "Mom. Thank you so much for taking care of me. Please, after I'm gone, don't fall into a depression or lose yourself. It wouldn't be fair to you or anyone else. Live for me, Mom, since my chance is gone."

"But Isa," Yue said, crying harder, "You can't leave. You can't die! I won't let you! Do you know how much you mean to me?"

Isa pulled away from his mother and looked her in the eyes.

"Mom, like it or not, I have to go. I'm so sorry, I'd change it if I could. But know this. I love you so much, even after I'm not here with you. I'll always be in your heart." He hugged her one last time, letting her sob into his shoulder.

He then turned to Amber. "It was so amazing to get to know you. You were like a second mom to me. So kind and understanding. Thank you for everything you've done for both me and Lea. I wish I could repay you…somehow."

Amber also ran forward and joined the group hug. After a minute, Isa looked at both of them. "If you wouldn't mind, could I please talk to Lea…alone?"

Yue gave her son a knowing look and kissed his forehead before standing up and grabbing Amber's hand as she led her out of the room before closing the door behind her.

Silence.

There had never been a silence like this between them before.

Lea had stared at the boy before him. How could he be so calm at a time like this? Lea's world had begun ripping apart, and Isa had just sat there, softly smiling.

However, after a moment or two even he had started to break down; tears started to form at the corners of his eyes.

Another moment before he had look up at Lea.

…those eyes. The startling color was now faded to almost white. There was no time left. Lea had almost lost him now.

Lea had stood up shakily, walking closer to his friend.

His best friend.

Was there such a thing beyond best friend? Lea didn't use the term lightly.

As he had neared the bed, his legs started to give out and he fell full-on into Isa's embrace, being careful not to hurt him more than he had been hurting already.

They had gripped each other tight, nails digging into fabric of shirts and tears colliding and melding with the material.

Isa had talked to him. Rambling through his tears about old memories. The best times. But that had only made Lea think about the memories they were never going to make.

"And th-that time…we were superheroes," Isa said, staring at the top of Lea's crumpled form attached to his side. "Saix and Axel right? Man, those were the days…my favorite days…even though I-I…I never really told you how much they m-meant to me…" Lea had felt another few teardrops on his skin following those words.

Lea had looked up at him. One last time. And he'd said the only words that were on his mind.

"How am I supposed to live without you?"

Isa had suddenly looked older and wiser as even through the tears, he smiled a bit bigger. Calmly, he took Lea's hand, put it over his own, and guided it to Lea's chest.

"I'll always be with you. Okay? I'll find you again someday. Let's meet again…Lea."

He had then brought Lea's face up to his own to kiss his forehead, just like his mother had done to him a few minutes ago.

Before Lea could've even tried to react, Isa's face slowly started draining of its remaining warmth.

"I'm here…Lea," he had whispered as he curled into his best friend, grabbing his best friends hand once more. "Always…here…"

Lea had held onto his hand until he could no longer feel a pulse. His body was deathly cold.

Isa…was gone.

And that's when Lea lost it.

"No…no no I can't…PLEASE! PLEASE! NO! I CAN'T DO THIS!" At this point he was screaming. His vision was blurred. He felt like he was drowning in his own tears. He sank to the floor, head in his hands.

Yue and Amber had come running in.

Lea had held onto his mother and sobbed into her shoulder, while Yue went over to Isa's body.

She had stroked his hair, put the blanket over him. Closed his eyes.

And more tears had slipped out.

Lea realized what had just happened. He'd replayed the scenes over in his head a million times while he was sitting there with the weight of the world on his shoulders. It couldn't be worse…

No. It could be worse. And it was.

Lea also realized there would never be a proper burial. Yue told him that Isa had made the decision a while back that he wanted to donate his body to science when he died.

The idea of what they would do to Isa sickened Lea. He couldn't imagine what would happen now. Obviously the brain was of no use, but all the organs would probably be donated, or the skin tissue would be used and the DNA experimented on…the list seemed to go on forever.

Isa would get a grave…but there would be nothing buried under the dirt.

Lea had received five more minutes to be with Amber and Yue and Isa once more before they took his body away. At first, Lea wouldn't let him go. He fought with the nurses and eventually they had to call in a few doctors to help calm him down.

On the outside, it helped. On the inside, he was still screaming.

And now here he was, friendless in the world, sobbing on his pillow in the middle of the night.

He wasn't Lea anymore. Lea could never exist without Isa.

That part of him had been ripped away with no hope of recovery. Taken away with Isa's life.

Now, he had to start all over again. A new life. A new day. New friends…not likely.

A new purpose.

And a new name.

Axel.


End file.
